rogues definition | Dictionary.com

rogue

[rohg]

noun, verb, rogued, ro⋅guing, adjective

–noun

1.	a dishonest, knavish person; scoundrel.

2.	a playfully mischievous person; scamp: The youngest boys are little rogues.

3.	a tramp or vagabond.

4.	a rogue elephant or other animal of similar disposition.

5.	Biology. a usually inferior organism, esp. a plant, varying markedly from the normal.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to live or act as a rogue.

–verb (used with object)

to cheat.

8.	to uproot or destroy (plants, etc., that do not conform to a desired standard).

9.	to perform this operation upon: to rogue a field.

–adjective

10.	(of an animal) having an abnormally savage or unpredictable disposition, as a rogue elephant.

11.	no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; deviating, renegade: a rogue cop; a rogue union local.

Origin:
1555–65; appar. short for obs. roger begging vagabond, orig. cant word

Synonyms:
1. villain, trickster, swindler, cheat, mountebank, quack. See knave.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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rogue (rōg)

An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal.
One who is playfully mischievous; a scamp.
A wandering beggar; a vagrant.
A vicious and solitary animal, especially an elephant that has separated itself from its herd.
An organism, especially a plant, that shows an undesirable variation from a standard.

adj.

Vicious and solitary. Used of an animal, especially an elephant.
Large, destructive, and anomalous or unpredictable: a rogue wave; a rogue tornado.
Operating outside normal or desirable controls: "How could a single rogue trader bring down an otherwise profitable and well-regarded institution?" (Saul Hansell).

v. rogued, rogu·ing, rogues

v. tr.

To defraud.
To remove (diseased or abnormal specimens) from a group of plants of the same variety.

v. intr.
To remove diseased or abnormal plants.

[Origin unknown.]

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